If I were President

This is also a daydream.
Not a campaign.
Not a pitch.

Just an exploration of what leadership at the top of the game could look like if it were grounded in football, not status.

The President does not run football day to day.
But they shape what the organisation stands for, what behaviour is normal and what is quietly tolerated.

That matters more than most people realise.

The role is not ceremonial

The President is not there simply to attend functions and smile for photos.

The President sets the moral and cultural tone of the organisation. What they say yes to, what they stay silent on and what they challenge tells everyone else what is acceptable.

I would see the role as stewardship, not prestige.

This game was here before me. It will be here after me. My job would be to leave it healthier, calmer and more stable than I found it.

The governing body exists because its members exist

A football governing body can sometimes begin to feel like the centre of the game.

It is not.

It exists because clubs and associations exist.
It exists because volunteers give their time.
It exists because children play, parents drive, coaches coach and communities care.

Without that, there is no organisation to govern.

Authority in football is not ownership. It is stewardship on behalf of members.

That means listening matters.
Respect matters.
Partnership matters.

Clubs and associations are not there to serve the governing body. The governing body exists to serve the game they are already delivering.

Associations and clubs are the engine room

Junior associations and community clubs are not peripheral parts of football.

They are the engine room of the game.
They are where players begin, where families connect, where volunteers learn leadership and where the next generation of football people is formed.

Every senior player, coach, referee and administrator starts somewhere. Almost always, it is in an association or a community club.

If those structures weaken, the whole system weakens. Not immediately, but inevitably.

Support does not only mean funding. It means clarity. Stability. Realistic expectations. Systems that recognise most of the work is done by volunteers.

What happens there today determines what football looks like in ten and twenty years.

Children’s safety and joy come first

At its heart, football is a children’s activity.

If children are not safe, if they are not having fun, if they are not treated with respect, then nothing else we build matters.

Safeguarding is not a compliance box. It is culture.

I would speak about child safety openly and often.
I would expect safeguarding to be properly resourced.
I would support strong, clear processes when issues arise, even when they are uncomfortable.
Safeguarding must have authority, independence and proper resourcing, not just policy documents.

But safety is only half the picture.

Football must also be joyful.

If the environment becomes too adult, too political or too pressured, we forget who the game is for. Children stay in sport when it is fun, when they feel they belong and when adults behave like role models.

Participation is not sustained by structures alone.
It is sustained by experience.

Protecting the game from ego

Football politics attracts strong personalities. Ambition. Territory. History. Grievances.

The President cannot add to that noise.

I would work to lower the temperature, not raise it. To defuse, not inflame. To bring conversations back to what is best for football when they drift toward who wins.

Not every disagreement needs to become a battle.
Not every slight needs to be remembered forever.

Backing the CEO and challenging in private

The President and CEO relationship sets the tone for the whole organisation.

Public undermining weakens the organisation. Blind loyalty weakens it too.

I would support the CEO in public, but behind closed doors I would ask hard questions. Are we listening. Are we overloading volunteers. Are we solving problems or just managing optics.

The President’s job is not to run operations.
It is to ensure the person who does is supported and properly challenged.

Keeping the Board grounded

Boards can drift upward into governance language, risk registers and strategy documents.

All important. None of it the game itself.

I would constantly bring the focus back down.

Clubs.
Associations.
Volunteers.
Children playing on cold mornings.

If a decision makes life harder for the people actually delivering football, we should know that before we vote, not after.

The President also has a practical role here, ensuring Board meetings are disciplined, agendas are clear and decisions are followed through. Good governance is not just what is discussed, but how the Board functions.

Making culture a governance issue

Culture is not soft. It is structural.

If volunteers feel disrespected, if clubs feel unheard, if junior football feels invisible, that is not a communications issue. That is a governance failure.

I would ask regularly
Do clubs trust us
Do associations feel supported
Do volunteers feel the load getting lighter or heavier

Those answers matter as much as financial reports.

Culture is also about behaviour standards. Respect for referees, volunteers and each other cannot be optional. The President can help set the expectation that how we behave is as important as what we achieve.

Normalising transparency about conflicts

In a small football state, everyone has connections.

Pretending conflicts do not exist is theatre.

I would set the expectation that interests are declared calmly and routinely. No embarrassment. No drama. Just honest governance.

Trust grows when reality is acknowledged.

Stability over constant reinvention

Boards often want to leave a mark.

Sometimes the bravest decision is not to change things.

Football people can handle hard seasons. What they struggle with is endless structural churn.

Stability allows clubs and volunteers to plan, recover and build properly.

Volunteer impact matters

Before approving new requirements, systems or reporting, I would ask
Who is doing this work
And when

Usually the answer is a volunteer, late at night.

If we are not reducing load somewhere else, we are quietly burning people out.

Being a visible advocate for football

The President should not be silent outside boardrooms.

Football needs a public voice.

I would speak up when football is overlooked.
When it is misunderstood.
When it is unfairly diminished.

Not combatively. But clearly and consistently.

Advocacy is also about steady relationships. The President helps maintain constructive, ongoing dialogue with councils and government so football is represented early, not only when issues arise.

Promoting the game, not just the organisation

I would be visible at grounds.
Visible in conversations about facilities.
Visible when football needs representation.

If football people only see their President at formal events, the role feels distant. If they see them occasionally on the fence at ordinary matches, the role feels connected to reality.

Defending football without apology

Football sometimes carries an unnecessary defensive tone.

I would speak about football as a major sport, a community builder and a global game that belongs here.

Pride in the game is not arrogance. It is leadership.

Keeping the long view

CEOs think in seasons and budgets. Boards think in terms.

The President has to think in decades.

How does this affect football in ten years.
Will this leave the system stronger or just quieter for now.

Being a bridge in times of tension

Football always has fault lines. Metro and regional. Junior and senior. Elite and community.

The President cannot remove these tensions. But they can prevent them becoming fractures.

Leadership sometimes means helping different parts of the game understand each other, not just argue past each other.

Protecting fairness and process

Trust in football depends on people believing processes are fair and independent.

The President helps ensure that complaints, disciplinary matters and decision-making pathways are clear, consistent and free from influence. Fair process protects people and it protects the game.

Remembering leadership is temporary

Power in sport can become sticky.

No one is indispensable.

Part of the role is preparing others, encouraging new leaders and ensuring the organisation is not dependent on one personality. That includes actively mentoring future leaders and ensuring governance knowledge is passed on, not lost when individuals step away.

Healthy systems outlast individuals.

And yes, I would care

Not about status.
Not about titles.

About the game.
About the people who give their time to it.
About the kids who just want to play.

Care is what stops decisions being made purely for optics or politics.

The bigger picture

The President cannot fix everything.

But they shape the environment in which everything happens.

They help decide whether football feels political and heavy, or stable and supported.

That influence is quiet, but it is enormous.